Options trading involves much more than just buying and selling puts or calls. An investor has a wide range of plays to choose from to become a successful trader. With numerous online brokerage houses offering several trading programs, investors can choose whichever firm best represents their trading style. In a volatile market, investors need to be well versed in many trading styles in order to benefit from market moves, whether positively or negatively. Trading options provides the investor with the opportunity to use numerous strategies in order to profit from a bear or a bull market. Included in the various styles are Covered Calls, which is the process of selling a call option while at the same time holding a matching position in the underlying stock. This strategy is used to take advantage of a declining or neutral stock. If the option expires unexercised, the writer keeps the premium received when first purchasing the option. If the holder exercises the option, the stock must be delivered, but, because the writer already owns the stock, risk is limited. Income is always there in a covered call, however, the risk of owning the underlying stock is not eliminated. The potential loss on a covered call is equivalent to the subtraction of the total amount paid as premium. Credit Spreads, another popular trading style, relates to the differences in price of two separate options, either puts or calls, on the same underlying stock when the price of the option sold exceeds the price of the one bought. Credit spreads most often increase during recessions and tighten during an economic expansion. An example would be buying a Dec 20 call on ASD for $4, and writing a Dec 15 call on ASD for $7. The net amount received, the credit, is $3. Bear Spreads are used in trading options as well. This is a strategy when the investor takes advantage of the market’s decline. Here, an option is purchased, either puts or calls, with different strike prices, in correlation of the current price, in order to receive profits as the price of the stock falls. Bull Spreads, which are a mirrored trade from Bear Spreads, are an options strategy that involves either puts or calls that will result in a profit only if the underlying stock’s price rises in value. Three of the most widely used Bull spreads are: Vertical spreads, which is simultaneously purchasing and selling of options of the same variety at different strike prices but with the same expiration date. Calendar spreads, which is simultaneously purchasing and selling of options of the same variety and the same price but at different expiration dates. Diagonal spreads are the combination of vertical and calendar spreads wherein the investor buys and sells options of the same variety at different strike prices and different expiration dates. Straddles are the purchase or sale of an equal number of puts and calls, with the same strike price and expiration dates. Straddles are used to give an investor the opportunity to profit from a forecast about the volatility of the market in the near future. Two types of straddles that a trader can use are, Long straddles, which can be successful when an investor is confident that a stock price will change noticeably, but does not know the direction of the stocks move or Short straddles, which represent just the opposite, in which a stock price will not change. Strangles is an options strategy involving a put option and a call option with the same expiration dates and strike prices, but is out of the money. A profit is made only if the underlying security moves dramatically in either direction. A strangle costs less than a straddle because both options are out of the money. With the strategies in place, a well-educated trader has all the possibilities to profit in the options market. There will always be apparent risk of losing your investment. However, if a trader can stick to a plan, reduce emotions, and take profits when available, than one should be able to generate sizable returns in options trading.